Aeroplane.



L. F. BANGROFT.

AEROPLANE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.16, 1911. 1,030,764. Patented June 25,1912.

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Y I f If a ATTORNEY8 L'. F. BANCROFT.

. ABROPLANE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.16, 1911.

1,030,764. Patented June. 25, 1912.

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WITNESSES: llVVE/VTOR ATTORNEYS L. F. BANCROFT.

AEROPLANE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.16, 1911.

1,030,764. Patented June 25, 1912.

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U1 LU WITNESSES: IN VE N V A8 4 diff/1f 'o/f W46/ M4 I LOUIS F. BANCROFT, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

AEROPLANE.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented J un 25, 1912.

Application filed March 16, 1911. Serial No. 614.835.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LoUIs F. BANCROFT, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and Improved Aeroplane, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to a new and novel form of aeroplane and more articularly relates to an aeroplane having automat-i stabilizing devices coacting therewith.

"An object of my invention is to provide means for automatically maintaining or re-- storing the lateral and longitudinal balance of the aeroplane.

A further object of my invention is to provide an aeroplane having stabilizing surfaces and guiding elements which may be manually operated to convert the same into additional stabilizing elements.

- With the above and other objects in view,

as will. more fully hereinafter appear, the' present invention consists in certain novel details of construction and arran ement of parts hereinafterfully described, i lustrated in the accompanying drawings, and more particularly pointed out-inlhe appended claims.

' Reference is to be-had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures, and in which 7 Figure 1 is a plan view showing an aeroplane equipped with -a preferred embodiment of my invention; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same: Fig. 3 is an end elevation looking from the right hand side of Fig. 2: Fig. 4 is a perspective view of myv stabilizing and supporting planes: Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic cross sectional view showing my aeroplane in tilted position; and Fig. 6 is' dihedrally-inclined front main sustaining wing surfaces B, para-bolically curved from front: to rear and elongated transversely to the line of flight, and two rigid parallel supplementary stabilizing planes 7 and 8 which are normally flat and elongated in a direction coincident with the line of flight but transversely inclined from the horizontal, this inclination being downward and inward from the outer to the inner longitudinal mat-gins of the supplementary stabilizing planes, as more particularly shown in Figs. 3 and 4. These supplementary planes are preferably supported by an extension 9 from the framework A, whlch framework is extended beyond the ends 10 of the stabilizing planes, to form a rigid extensionll for the pivoted tails hereinafter described.

To the rear margins of the stabilizing surfaces 7 and 8 and adapted to rest in a normal position on the extension 11 of the framework A are pivoted tail sections '12 and 13, forming in their normal position, a continuation, respectively, of the surfaces 7 and 8. These pivoted tail sections are so constructed that under normal conditions of flight, they extend substantially rear- Wardly and offer the minimum resistanceto the forward motion of the machine but are adapted to automatically swing upwardly, for the purpose of preserving the longitudinal balance of the aeroplane. In devlces of this character, the .weights carried at different times over the front main sustaining wing surface may vary according to the weights of different operators or whether one or more passengers are being carried.

Normally the tail sections rest on the ex- 1 tension 11, but in order to maintain the device in its horizontal position whenfalling, it has been found necessary to limit the free upward swing of the tail sections 12 and 13, and for this purpose I attach flexible adjusting cords Hand 15 to the rear under por tions of the I pivoted tail sections, which cords pass downwardly under the end 10 to which the tails are pivoted through pulleys 16 and 17. to an adjusting spool 18 placed convenient to the operator and which is controlled by means of a ratchet lever 19 so that by turning the spool in one direction, the adjusting cords are simultaneously tightened, thereby limitin the amount of swing ofthe tails 12 an 13,so that the angle of the upward swing of the pivoted tail sections from the extension 11 may be regulated thus affording less resistance to the downward movement of the rear portion of the aeroplane due to the fact that the tail sections are more inclined to a vertical position. These tail sections having onc'e 'been adjusted for any given weight in the forward portion of the machine, the spool may be locked in position, so that should the device begin to fall, the rear tails will be swung through a definite and predetermined angle.

The vertical and horizontal rudders are placed in front of the machine, as shown in Fig. 1, in order to afford an unrestricted channel for the current of air generated bythe revolving propeller C. The horizontal rudder E is pivoted at 20 to the front framework of the machine. Extending upwardly from and rigidly aflixed to the rudderis a lever arm 21, to the upper end of which is pivoted one end of a horizontally-disposed armextending rearwardly toward the oper ator, the rear end of which arm 22 is pivoted to the upper end of the standard 23, which standardis. journaled by means of a balland-socket connection 24: to the body of the machine. By moving the standard forward and backward, the inclination of the rudder E to the horizontal is raised or lowered as desired; thus the rudder E may be inclined downward until it is in the same relative angular position with reference to the horizontal plane of the machine as the members 7 and 8.

In the operation, while the aeroplane is moving forwardly through the air, the tail sections 12 and 13 extend rearwardly supported on the extension 11, forming substantially a continuation of the planes to which they are respectively attached; Should for any reason the progress of the machine be interrupted, the device will of course begin to settle, and the resistance of the air underneath the tail sections12 and 13 will cause thesesections to swing upwardly on their.

pivots to an angle depending upon the angle to which these planes were limited by means of the spool 18. If for any reason the machine should tilt transversely, as shown in Fig. 5, it will be observed that the stabiliz-f ing planes being strongly braced and held rigidly in position with reference to each other and to the rest of the machine, are now inclined at different angular positions with reference to the line of fall. Owing to the fact that the stabilizing surface 7 is inclined more toward the perpendicular and the horizontal surface 8 is inclined more to the horizontal, it will readily be seen that the righthand side ofthe aeroplane is retarded in its downward movement, thus allowing the portion on the surface 7 to drop downwardly and the machine to regain its normal horizontal position. It will thus be seen that whichever side is tilted downwardly will present an extended retarded supporting surface on that side, which will tend to maintain the ma chine in a horizontal position. As the machine is dropping, the operator may manually actuate the horizontal supporting rudder E to an angle corresponding to the angle at which the stabilizing planes 7 and '8 are disposed, thereby extending the stabilizing surface across the front of the machine.

Many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, as, for instance, extending the stabilizing planes 7 and 8 forwardly from i the plane B or even in position both forwardly and rearwardly.

It is intended that all matters contained herein, in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings, shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense. It is also to be understood that the language used in the following claims is merely intended to cover all the generic and specific features of the invention herein described and all statements of the scope of the invention, which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween, and that materials, sizes and relativities of parts are non ess'ential, except as called for in the claims.

Having thus described my invention, I

claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent: p

1. In an aeroplane, a supportin surface, angularly-disposed stabilizing surfaces rigidly aflixed to said supporting surface and extending rearwardly therefrom in the direction of the line of flight, tailspivoted to said stabilizing devices, and means limiting the angular disposition of said tails with reference to said aeroplane when the same is'falling.

2. In an aeroplane, a transversely-disposed main supporting plane, and a stabilizing device disposed in the rear of said supporting plane, said stabilizing device comprising two'spaced apart downwardly and inwardly inclmed supporting surfaces rigidly aflixed relatively to'said main supporthaving a main sup-' bilizing device riglaiy afixed to said supporting surface and extending rearwardly therefrom in the direction of theline of flight, a framework extending to the rear of said stabilizing device, a tail section pivotally attached to said framework at its front edge and adapted to normally lie on said framework, and means attached to said tail section limiting its movement away from said framework.

5. In an aeroplane, a transversely-disposed main supporting surface, astabilizing device extending from the rear of-said surface and rigidly attached thereto, said stabilizing device comprising a pair of transversely spaced apart downwardly and inwardly-inclined supporting planes, a framework supporting each of said planes and extending to the rear thereof, a supplemental tail section. pivoted to said framework immediately in rear of each of said inclined planes and adapted to normally restupon said framework, and means attached to the rear free end of each of said tail sections limiting the'upward swing of said tail sections away from said framework.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LOUIS F. BANCRVOFT.

\Vitnesses W. S. ORTON, PHILIP D. ROLLHAUS. 

